Everyone you trust to watch your back will eventually stab it.

***

Twenty years ago, the frigid Khizmit Enclave had two problems: too much crime and not enough coal. Their solution was The Preemptive Initiative—kill all the criminals and incarcerate their children—the vanguard of future threats to their peace and prosperity.

Victor-27 doesn't know what his parents did. All he cares about is that although he's spent his whole life in prison cells and rat holes, he isn't ready to stand before The Judgment Board in six months. There, they'll decide if it's worth the risk to let him keep living and working, or if his eighteenth birthday present will be capital punishment.

While the threat of his execution draws nearer, Victor discovers that he's capable of much more than the violent disposition associated with his prison tag.

Victor begins to suspect someone on the outside might be rooting for him, but hope and fear are equally dangerous as guards and inmates make and break alliances faster than the snow falls.

In prison, there are many rules, but first and foremost is this: Everyone you trust to watch your back will eventually stab it.